Converting the Scrooges
by youdude
Summary: The team is sorely lacking in Christmas spirit, but fortunately for them, this Christmas may just bring with it a little fun and romance...Morgan/Prentiss. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own CM or any of the characters.**

**A/N: This is for the Chit Chat on Author's Corner Christmas Challenge for missingthepoint. Merry Christmas and I hope you like it!**

**I used the prompts White Christmas, teddy bear, and snow. FYI this will have one more chapter.**

**XXX**

_**May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white. **_

On this particular night, the air was pulsing with excitement and preparation. A blanket of snowy-white frost covered the roof of every building, and Christmas lights flowed in long strings from doorway to doorway. Children kicked at the icy gravel spread across the ground as they laughed and played, while their mothers, arms overflowing with brightly-wrapped presents, followed behind them, talking animatedly. Wreaths were apparent on every door, and large stockings hung on mantelpieces, next to the tables overflowing with delicious food of all kind. Past the large shops, with their brightly lit signs and huge displays, there was an empty, undecorated building, and perhaps seen this sign:

'Carollers, please note: We are not going to sit here while you waste fifteen minutes of our lives, we are not going to smile while you give us permanent ear damage, and we are damn well not going to give you any figgy pudding!

We hope you have a very merry Christmas, and a wonderful New Year!'

Inside the building, a group of tired, worn people, with their heads bent over their desks, sat silently, brooding. One of these people was called Emily Prentiss, and she was contemplating the sign.

"We are the Grinch split into seven," she said moodily, sighing again as she remembered the sign.

"No, we're not," David Rossi said firmly- he had been the one who worded the sign. And the one who wrote it. And the one who decided to put it up.

And the one who decided to make a sign in the first place.

"We are definitely not Grinches," he continued, "The Grinch has its own name, and comes in female form with blonde hair."

"Hey!" JJ objected. She was sitting at one of the empty desks, unwilling to spend the night alone in her office.

"I think he means Strauss," Hotch said.

Derek Morgan looked up from the stack of papers on his desk. "Yeah. Although, in all honesty Jayje? What you did was just mean." And calling her out on it was 'just mean', too.

She crossed her arms at his accusation. "God, Derek, there was a guy kidnapping five year-olds. It's not my fault the case ended on Christmas Eve! Maybe if you guys had found the unsub faster..."

"We found him in four fucking days!"

"That's enough, you two," Hotch interjected, his patience already wearing thin. "Morgan, JJ was doing her job, and now we're doing ours. If you have a problem with that, take it up with me. Later."

"Why can't we just get Christmas off?" Garcia asked, looking at the Reid. "Isn't there a rule or something?"

Morgan barked out a harsh, dry laugh. "In case you hadn't noticed, baby girl, we're kinda exempt from the No-Working-On-Holidays rule. Case and point would be Thanksgiving, New Year's, last year's Halloween, New Year's from two years ago, National Day two years ago, the-"

"We get it."

"But Strauss can't make us work on Christmas can she?" Prentiss asked, pen stopped mid-sentence. "I mean, it's not like I care too much whether it's Christmas or not, but I really need an off-day!"

Emily Prentiss had no-one to spend _her _Christmas with- and she hadn't had anyone for the last three years. Neither had JJ. Nor had Reid, or Garcia, or Rossi. Morgan did have his dog, although he was hardly good company.

"She isn't making us stay on Christmas- she's making us stay until we finish the paperwork," Hotch corrected softly. Hotch, for one, had his son. And he was willing to work until six a.m. if it meant he could be home in time to see Jack open his presents.

Reid nodded at Hotch's statement. "Yes, and if we work constantly without any breaks, we should have it all completed in," he checked his watch, "less than three hours. It should be done by midnight!" He beamed.

"And if we don't work constantly?" JJ asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"Well," he scrunched up his forehead, "if we work at our _normal_ pace, that is, with coffee breaks, numerous social breaks, procrastination in various form and countless bathroom breaks, it should take us just over six hours."

The team groaned collectively, knowing just as well as we do that they would finish until three a.m.

Morgan, ever eloquent, pushed away from his desk. "This is bull."

Garcia cocked her bedazzled head to one side. "Um, I thought none of you really give two hoots about Christmas."

"We don't," Prentiss agreed. "It's the fact that _everybody else _that _we _work 24/7 to save, has the day off. But of course, we don't."

A beat of silence followed. Then: "I know what we are," JJ said suddenly. "We're not Grinches; we're Scrooges!" She sounded strangely joyous at this realization.

"We're Scrooges who're stuck at the office until three on Christmas..." Morgan murmured in agreement. "Can she even do that?" His last question was directed at Hotch, who shrugged.

"Technically, we have Christmas Day off, as well as the week after. But she can make us stay until midnight." He cleared his throat, knowing they wouldn't like what he had to say next. "But honestly? I get where she's coming from. The paperwork for this case needs to be completed before next Tuesday, and since we have the week after Christmas off, if we don't do it now, it'll never happen."

"Which brings me back to the 'JJ should not have picked a case which she knew would end just before Christmas' point!" Morgan grouched.

"You know what?" JJ started, putting her pen down.

"I think that's enough. We're going to take a break, and when we return we are going to stop acting like irrational idiots," Hotch ordered sternly, eyeing JJ and Morgan, who looked down uncomfortably.

Just then, the sound of a cart trundling up the hall was heard. "Uh, excuse me? Is there an Agent Prentiss here?" A young man of about 19 waved a card and a teddy bear at them. "I have some mail for her. Sorry it's late- we just found it and I brought it straight over."

Emily smiled at him as he handed her the card. "No worries. Thanks!" The second he wheeled his cart away, she tore open the card and read it out sarcastically, her tone hardening with each word. "May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white..."

"That's nice..." Morgan commented, not really getting it. "It's that song, isn't it? 'White Christmas'? And the teddy's pretty cute."

Emily let out her breath slowly. "It's from my mom. And she didn't even write anything. _Nothing_."

Morgan picked up the teddy bear, which she hadn't even looked at. "Maybe she didn't have time?"

"No. What that means is she sent someone out to buy me a card and a toy and mail it, without lifting a finger herself." Throwing the empty card in the trash, she stood up, shrugging. "Whatever."

"Where are you going?" JJ called as Emily strode out of the bullpen, stuffing her arms into the sleeves of her coat as she walked.

"Outside." On second thoughts, she stopped, turning around to face them. "You guys wanna come?"

JJ looked at the pile of work in front of her. Then at the snow through the window. Back at the paperwork. And: "Yes!"

"We can do the work later," she added as Hotch opened his mouth to argue. "We'll take it home with us and do it during the holidays."

After a beat of silence, he relented. "Alright. We can all join Prentiss outside...Where is Prentiss anyway?"

Emily was already outside, taking in the softly-falling snow and the biting-cold wind. Suddenly, a clump of snow was thrown into her hair by the wind, and she rubbed the back of her head, wincing. Staring at the pieces of snow on the ground, she glanced back at the BAU, knowing the others would still be suiting up and getting into the elevator. Or at least, waiting for _Rossi _to suit up and get into the elevator. Which gave her...about four minutes. Give or take.

And every second of those four minutes would be _extremely _well-spent.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters.**

**XXX**

Emily crouched down in the snow behind a small bush, shuffling clumps of ice under her feet. A pile of perfectly-formed snowballs lay to her right, within reach. Her eyes darted between the opening door in front of her, the splatter of blood on the floor, and the snowball which was currently being passed from hand to hand.

"Hey, Prentiss, you coming or what?" Morgan called as he and the team stepped outside. He had the door open, and was waiting for Emily to come outside.

Garcia shivered. "Derek, are you blind, or did you not just see her go outside? Like five minutes ago? _Before _us?"

Morgan's shoulders slumped. "She left." If she hadn't been hiding, Prentiss would have had a whale of a time teasing him about the dejected look he wore. As it was, she stuffed her fist in her mouth to hold in her laughter.

And managed to hit herself in the face with her own snowball.

_My IQ is unrivalled, _she thought sarcastically.

"What was that?" Hotch asked, eyebrow raised. The unit chief was the only one whose teeth weren't chattering. Emily hurriedly grabbed another snowball from her pile, wiping her mouth on her sleeve as she did so.

"I bet she's hiding," JJ said, surveying the parking lot with new-found interest. "That would be the type of thing she'd find funny."

Morgan immediately perked up. "Here, Prenty-Prentiss...Here, girl..."

_Prenty-Prentiss? _She rubbed the ball in her hands, jaw set. _You and me, we're going to freeze that bald egg-head..._

Reid came closer to her bush, his glancing around- just as she knew they would. "Hey guys?"

Morgan didn't look up, completely occupied in his attempt to antagonize his colleague. He walked closer to where she was hidden, arms outstretched. "Come on, Emsy...I've got chocolate...Here, Emmelina..."

_EMMELINA? Oh, he's so gonna get it now..._She struggled to decide whether to aim for his head or his groin.

"Guys!" Reid tried again.

"Here, Emmikins..."

_That's it. Crotch it is._

"Guys!"

"What is it, Reid?" Hotch asked, walking over stonily, his hands firmly in his pockets.

"Blood."The word seemed to resonate through the empty parking lot, and effectively stopped Morgan halfway through a "Come here, Emmy-pop".

"Whose blood?" JJ asked, earning her a sigh from Morgan.

"JJ, we_ just_ found it," he said, using the dig to hide his worry. "How are we supposed to know?" Rolling his eyes, he sighed again. "Honestly! Blondes!"

JJ flattened her hand and raised her hand to hit him, but Hotch stopped her with a look. "Right, sorry-the blood. Focused. Continue."

The team knelt down in a circle around the spatter of blood, and Emily's face fell as she saw Morgan prepare to crouch down behind Rossi.

_No! Move! That's right...yes...a little more...No, the other way! Yes! Yes! Perfect! _

As Morgan crouched down with his back to the bush, a snowball whizzed through the air and smacked him on his shiny bald head.

He swore and stood up, gun drawn, only to have a slightly gentler one hit his crotch. He doubled over, gasping. "Who the fuck was that?"

Emily jumped out of the bushes, armed and smiling brightly. "Emmy-pop!"

JJ and Garcia cheered. "Go, Em! Shotgun on her team!" They both ran over to take cover behind her bush as Rossi, Reid and Morgan bent down to gather ammo.

"We need cover! Protect your balls and run like hell!" Rossi hissed, as the girls made short work of Emily's ready-made ammunition. "Move move move!" They ran to the clump of bushes a few metres away from the girls' bush and ducked behind it.

Leaving Hotch alone in no-man's land.

The unit chief paled as six snowballs hit him all at once- three aimed at the men, and three aimed at the women.

Apparently, his team couldn't aim.

"Stop!" He spluttered, fielding flying balls of ice from every direction. Six heads popped out of the bushes, assessed the situation, and re-aimed.

And they hit him all over again. He could see there really wasn't any choice but to pick a side and get revenge. Quickly surveying the two teams, he weighed the pros and cons.

_If I go on the boys' team, _he thought, _I'm stuck with Reid, who can't aim to save his life. But then, they have Morgan, who can throw curveballs with snowballs. And if I go on the girls' team, I will never hear the end of it._

His mind made up, he darted to the bushes and dived behind one just as a snowball zoomed past his ear.

"What's our plan?" he asked Morgan, who shrugged.

"Get 'em good." He dropped a large pile of snowballs in Hotch's hands. "I'm going in to their base. Cover me."

He leapt up and ran for the girls' bushes, his heroic attempt marred by the dozens of snowballs hit at him from all directions.

During his spectacularly-failed run, Morgan learned five things:

1- When excited, girls appear to grow five arms each.

2- Each of those five arms has super-speed, and can throw fifty snowballs a minute.

3- Sprinting into cross-fire with the best of intentions does not magically make you immune to snowballs.

4- Being hit from the front and back at the same time is not pleasant. At all.

5- Hotch cannot aim.

The last discovery was made when he realized that 20% of the snowballs- namely, the ones raining down on his head and back- were gifts from his unit chief, _who was supposed to be on his team! _

Meanwhile, at the girls' bush, Emily was huddled with JJ and Garcia. "Okay, none of them can aim. Let's all just grab a mountain each and ambush their base."

They quickly patted mushy clumps of snow into what resembled balls, and stood up, just as Rossi, Reid and Hotch appeared out of their bushes, armed with their own snowballs.

"FIRE!" Garcia ordered, charging ahead into the flurry of snowballs. "Fire with cold! Fire with ice! Fire with- oomph!" She groaned as Reid struck her torso. "Oh, I will get you for that, my little- oomph!" She fired a snowball at Reid in retaliation, but missed and hit Rossi instead. He and Reid focused on Garcia.

JJ, Emily, Hotch and Morgan were circling each other, sending snowballs flying in every direction.

"Garcia!" JJ yelled suddenly, dropping her snowballs and running forward. "Now!"

She and Emily dropped their snowballs and simultaneously rammed into Hotch, who stumbled backwards into Morgan. Garcia threw a double-whammy, sending Rossi flying into Morgan, who let out a painful groan.

Garcia turned to look at Reid, snowball at the ready. She pointed at him. "Want to keep your trouser trout, then I suggest you park yourself under Rossi." His eyes widened, and he scurried under Rossi's leg.

Emily and JJ cackled with laughter, falling onto the ground as they took pictures of their colleagues tangled in each other's limbs. None of them noticed Morgan and Hotch pull themselves out of the pile and creep towards them, packing ice tightly into little balls.

"GET 'EM!" Morgan yelled, hitting Emily square in the face. Rossi attacked Garcia, while Reid and Hotch ambushed JJ, stealing her phone and deleting every picture. Morgan ran after Emily, who was attempting to run and find cover. "Oh no you don't!"

He leapt at her, pushing her onto the ground and straddling her. She rolled them over so she was on top, trying to get away, but he kept her pinned down against him, laughing.

"Okay, that's enough now," Hotch ordered, smiling slightly as he handed JJ back her cell phone, adding a clump of snow on her head for good measure.

Emily struggled to get free. "You heard him, Morgan."

He grinned widely, gripping her wrists tightly. "Oh, I don't think so, princess. You know what I want to hear."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, you don't?" he repeated teasingly. "Then I guess I'll just have to stuff this down someone's neck and-"

"Don't you dare!" she shrieked, twisting away from the snow in his hand, which was dangerously close to her coat collar.

"You know what I want..."

She scowled, but a smile threatened to tug its way back onto her face. "Fine. You win," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that Emmsy?"

"You win!"

He loosened his grip and she tackled him, rolling over him and making sure her elbows hit him in all the right places.

"That's enough," Hotch repeated more firmly, although his lips quirked upwards.

They stood up, brushing snow off themselves. Reid, Rossi, Hotch, JJ and Garcia trudged into the BAU, and Emily started to follow them before Morgan stopped her by grabbing her wrist. She turned back questioningly.

"Emily?"

"Yeah?"

His eyes were gazing deeply into hers, and she could feel him asking for permission. She swallowed and nodded.

His lips met hers, hesitantly at first. She returned his kiss tentatively as he gently ran his tongue over her bottom lip, asking for entrance. She opened her mouth and when she deepened the kiss, he pushed her up against a wall, passion replacing uncertainty.

He broke away first, and their eyes locked. Hers were filled with doubt, his with lust and love. "Emily..." he whispered hoarsely, before his cold lips met her soft, frozen ones again for a quick, gentle kiss, his hands running through her silky hair. They parted again, and this time it was her who broke the kiss.

"Derek, I-"

"Emily, I know you don't want to ruin our friendship or our work relationship, but I really like you, and I think this could work. No, don't argue," he said as she opened her mouth to speak. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met. You're smart, and funny, and witty, and gorgeous and you've got a killer body. Every time I see you I think I'm going to burst."

She shook her head, but she was smiling at the compliments.

"Emily, if we don't try, we'll never know if it could have worked. I really like you..." he nuzzled her neck. "So what do you say? Will you go out with me?"

She paused, trying to think but unable to because of the fire that was raging through her body.

_I guess that answers it. _

"Okay."

He grinned in delight, grabbing her hand as they walked into the BAU. "Hey, hold on..."

"What?"

"Where did the blood come from?"

She laughed, pulling the door open and waving at their expectant team mates, who were shrugging off their coats. "That is for me to know, and you to find out."

**XXX**

**A/N: Have a very Merry Christmas, everyone! My ideal Christmas gift would be reviews *hint hint* I looooove reviews *hint hint HINT* **

**I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Madeline xxx**


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